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| Description: Net Worth: $1.6 BILLION Country of Citizenship: Nigeria Age: 51 Number of Jobs Created: 1,325 Tony Elumelu is the chairman of UBA Group, a diversified banking concern in Nigeria with a market capitalisation of about $1.5 billion. He also serves as chairman of Heirs Holdings, an investment company, and as chairman of Transnational Corporation, a conglomerate with investments in hospitality, oil and gas, agriculture, and the transportation and logistics sectors of the Nigerian economy. Elumelu kicked off his banking career when he teamed up with friends, Albert Okumagba and Ike Nwabuoku, to found Bank Guarantee Limited (BGL) as an investment firm specialising in mergers and acquisitions. He later left BGL to run the company’s first acquisition, Crystal Bank. In a remarkable feat of business reengineering, Elumelu turned around Crystal Bank, renamed it Standard Trust Bank, and grew it into one of the five largest banks in the country. In 2005, he merged Standard Trust Bank with UBA in what many saw as an acquisition of a bigger bank by a smaller one. Elumelu assumed the role of chief executive of the combined entity and proceeded to build it into one of the largest financial institutions in Nigeria with operations in 19 African countries, 600 branches and assets of $15 billion. Elumelu stepped down as CEO in 2010, following a Central Bank of Nigeria directive stating that any chief executive who had served in that capacity for 10 years or more must leave the position. He returned to his bank this year as chairman. After leaving UBA, Elumelu kicked off Heirs Holdings, an investment firm. He also founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the Africapitalism Institute to study the rise of capitalism across the continent. |
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